1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of forming miniature wiring and connector systems for electrical products, and more specifically, for forming miniature wiring and connective systems for a medical implant such as a cochlear implant assembly.
2. Related Art
In many electrical devices, particularly those that are manufactured on a very small scale, the manufacture of the wiring and connector components is often a labor intensive and specialized craft. Ensuring that the wiring and connection of the various components of the systems occurs correctly is often the most expensive and labor intensive aspect of the manufacturing process, resulting in large costs associated with the time taken to manufacture the device which is often passed on to the ultimate consumer. This is also the case when such devices need to be specifically hand-made to a specification as often the availability of the device is dependent upon the time taken to manufacture the device, with the time taken being difficult or impossible to expedite.
This is particularly the case in the field of medical implants and electrical devices that are implanted in the body to perform a specific task. Such devices may include: stimulating devices such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, FES stimulators, recording devices such as neural activity sensors and the like, implantable cables which may be used to connect implantable devices to other implantable devices or stimulating/sensing devices, diagnostic devices capable of carrying out in-vivo analysis of body parameters, and other types of implantable devices not yet contemplated. In such devices, the size needs to be minimized to ensure that they are minimally invasive upon implantation. As a result in such instances, the electronic wiring and connections need also to be relatively very small. As such, manufacturing such devices to ensure that they are reliable and sturdy is a specialized art, and requires much time and expense.
Current techniques for the manufacture of electrode arrays for cochlear implant systems, in particular, are relatively highly labor intensive. This is in the main due to the intricate nature of the array and the very small dimensions of the array necessary to allow it to be inserted in the scala tympani of the human cochlea. Being an implantable device, the method of manufacture also needs to result in a biocompatible product that is not susceptible to damage from long-term placement in the body.
With implanted devices and miniaturization becoming more common, there is an increasing need to provide electronic wiring and electronic connections in such systems that are both relatively simple and reliable.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.